Listening

Have you ever read something several, maybe even five, six (or in this case least 20) times and all of sudden a different viewpoint or realization of what is said just come seeping into the old noggin?  This happened to me a couple of days ago while having my quiet time.  I was reading in Mark 4 and verses 21 through 25, and God showed me something new.

In this chapter Christ had just finished telling the parable of the sower/seeds and followed it up by explaining this passage to His disciples.  At the end of explaining the parable, Jesus told them the following:

 ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ²⁵ For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.     

As Christ told this parable to the crowd and He begins with "Listen to this"  and ends with  “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  He later tells the disciples of the lamp and basket/bed ending with the same statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”, and now in versed 24-25 we see “Take care what you listen to." Hear, Listen...Take care what you listen to!  Am I listening to God as I need to be?  Or am I listening to myself or the world?  If I am listening to God and what He is telling me then the more that will be revealed.  The more God wants to talk to me and the more I will benefit!  Other similar verses (Matt. 25:14-30) deal with using your talents, money, skills and abilities for work in God's kingdom. However these verses in Mark deal with listening to God and His words. The more time I spend in prayer and meditation allowing God to talk to me, the more I want to delve into the Bible and my prayer life.  If I don't listen to God then I lose out. 

Don't misunderstand me, studying and meditating on the Word of God is paramount to our growth as a Christian, but as I worked through these verses I discovered there are many more verses in the Bible that tells us to listen/hear vs study/read.  Are we too absorbed in reading (Christian books, study guides, devotionals etc..) to hear Gods voice as He speaks to us? To me these two verses are telling me the more I apply myself to prayer and listening, combined with a daily walk in His Word, the more He is going to say.  If I stray and pursue false or misleading teachings then God's blessing, and if I understand properly, even His word "...shall be taken away.".  

Also tied into this is the warning to "Take care what you listen to".  I believe Christ was warning His disciples to be careful to what and who they listened to.  The religious leaders of Christ day were willing to "bend" God's word for their benefit, and later in the 1st century church many heresies were being introduced. I see the same thing spreading like a cancer through the church today. Jesus was warning His followers to listen to His truth, not the world's.  Jesus wants us to listen to Him!